in the first place for pleasure, Donne
is left undisturbed on the shelf, or rather in the sepulchre; and
not one in an hundred even among persons of cultivation, can give any
account of him, if in reality they ever heard of his productions.

The name of Shakespear is that before which every knee must bow. But it
was not always so. When the first novelty of his pieces was gone, they
were seldom called into requisition. Only three or four of his plays
were upon the acting list of the principal company of players during
the reign of Charles the Second; and the productions of Beaumont and
Fletcher, and of Shirley, were acted three times for once of his. At
length Betterton revived, and by his admirable representation gave
popularity to, Macbeth, Hamlet and Lear, a popularity they have ever
since retained. But Macbeth was not revived (with music, and alterations
by sir William Davenant) till 1674; and Lear a few years later, with
love scenes and a happy catastrophe by Nahum Tate.

In the latter part of the reign of Charles the Second, Dryden and Otway
and Lee held the undisputed supremacy in the serious drama.

Such was the insensibility of the English public to nature, and her high
priest, Shakespear. The only one of their productions that has survived
upon the theatre, is Venice Preserved: and why it has done so it is
difficult to say; or rather it would be impossible to assign a just and
honourable reason for it. All the personages in this piece are of an
abandoned and profligate character. Pierre is a man resolved to destroy
and root up the republic by which he was employed, because his mistress,
a courtesan, is mercenary, and endures the amorous visits of an
impotent old lecher. Jaffier, without even the profession of any public
principle, joins in the conspiracy, because he has been accustomed
to luxury and prodigal expence and is poor. He has however no sooner
entered into the plot, than he betrays it, and turns informer to the
government against his associates. Belvidera instigates him to this
treachery, because she cannot bear the thought of having her father
murdered, and is absurd enough to imagine that she and her husband shall
be tender and happy lovers ever after. Their love in the latter acts of
the play is a continued tirade of bombast and sounding nonsense, without
one real sentiment, one just reflection, or one strong emotion working
from the heart, and analysing the nature of man. The folly of this love